Walther P99 magazine problems...

[mtallman]

Hey,

Recently picked up a Walther P99AS in .40. The gun had been returned to the store because the previous owner was frustrated with the mags. He had bought 3 extra ones, and out of the 5, only 2 functioned properly, with the rest failing to lock the pistol open and sometimes jamming on the slide (causing the slide to be stuck on the follower so that the only way to get it to go forward was to take out the mag forcefully).
All the mags, thanks to our fabulous laws, are the 10 rounders with the plastic piece on the bottom.
Anyways, was shooting the other day, ran a full mag through, and after 7 shots, the plastic piece on the bottom blew off with 2 rounds falling out the bottom. Today, when I was doing some reloading drills, I went to grab a magazine from my Fobus belt pouch when the plastic piece tore off.
I do realize that a good option would be to try and get some of the full metal 12 rounders and pin them at 10, but I am just wondering if this was an early problem that has been resolved. These mags have the blue followers. Does anyone know if Walther will replace these. Just wondering if I'm the only person with this problem (wouldn't think so).

Thanks,
Matt

 

[SouthpawShootr]

S&W and Walther both had follower problems with the SW99/P99 guns, especially, I hear, with the .40s. Followers went through a couple of different colors (updates). Contact the importer and see what can be done about your self-destructing mags. I'll bet they replace them free. I don't remember reading about these 10 rounders spontaneously disassembling before. Of course, it has been a while since 10 rounders were mandated by the federal government here (most states didn't see the sens in restricting capacity to start with, unlike big brother).

 

[Storm]

I know that the blue followers are good mags for the P99 in .40.

 

[Soybomb]

As far as i've heard the problems have been resolved with the .40 mags for some time. Have you checked your thumbs position when shooting? The p99 has a long slide release lever and if you're using a thumbs forward grip its possible to hold it down and keep it from locking. I'm not sure how the follower was stopping the slide though, are the feed lips of the mag really tweaked up or something?

 

[Chrome]

Sounds to me like you have several issues.

First, like Soybomb said, check your grip. When I first bought my p99, I thought it never locked back on the last round. Come to find out, my thumb was ever so slightly pushing on the slide release.

About the floorplates, if the .40 mags are designed the same as the 9mm mags, it will be OBVIOUS that something is broken when you look at them. The 9mm has a metal plate behind the polymer plate that is attached to the spring. Tension holds it down and pushes a button into the hole on the plastic floor plate. It also slides onto the rails on the bottom of the mag. Inspect the magazine, does it look torn up? I have a hard time imagining it coming apart like you describe.

As far as the followers, yes there has been a change. However, blue is the newest change. Could you describe a little more about the follower jamming up?

Also, remember that S&W does the warranty work for Walther. If you look the pistol over and still have an issue, give S&W a call. They will take good care of you.

Later,
Chrome...

 

[mtallman]

Thanks for the replies...

Have you checked your thumbs position when shooting? The p99 has a long slide release lever and if you're using a thumbs forward grip its possible to hold it down and keep it from locking.

I'm positive that this is not the problem. Simply, when I put in different empty mags and rack the slide, only 2 will keep it back consistantly. The mags that don't work well, when racking the slide, the slide doesn't hint at locking back, just goes back and forth every time.

I am positive that the plastic piece on the bottom is broken...both times it broke into 2 pieces, with the lower guide rail in one side breaking off. It's not just a case of it sliding off, the plastic piece cracked.

Could you describe a little more about the follower jamming up?

The follower kind of drifts furthur up (at the front, where the bullet would be), and the breech face digs into it. On the followers, there are white lines from where the breech face has dug paths into them. When this problem happens (when shooting the last round), sometimes the slide locks a bit back, but it is stuck on the follower and not on the slide lock. When this happens, there is no way to pull the slide back, the only way to get it to move is to forcefully yank the mag out the bottom.

Just talked to the guy at the store, and he's going to look into getting some more to replace them. The problem here in Kanada, is that I would need an export permit from your side to import magazines for them...which also makes it harder to contact S&W direct...however, my gun was made in Germany so perhaps I should contact Walther in Germany?

I'll post pics of the mag problems if I can find my camera...

 

[Soybomb]

I have the 9mm version so they might not be similar but the only thing that comes close to making sense that would fit both problem is messed up up mags. The top of the follower come nowhere near touching the breech face. The feed lip on the high side of the follower keeps the follower from going up above them. The follower doesn't seem to have the clearance to tilt if I try to the push the back down. Do the mags look uniform with snug fitting but smooth followers?

 

[desiertos]

I have the same problem with new mags for .40 S&W. Contacted S&W and cannot ship to Canada. Will post pictures of the problem. I am thinking of using epoxic to fix the followers...